Coal-loading machine



J. .-IOY.

COAL LOADING MACHINE.

FILED MAY 28. 191B.

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COAL LOADING MACHINE.

FILED MAY 28. 19,18.

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coAL L-oAnlNG MACHINE.

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COAL LOADING MACHINE.

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l HIJ m H w1 Patented 1"' elo.' 1 3, 1923.;

UNITED vSTATES PATENT orIf-ICE.A

JOSEPH P. manor4 BELLE-VERNON, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNOE 'ro JOY MAGHINE COMPANY, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A'COEPOEATION OFnE1 .A W-AEE;l

-l Y .l COAL-'LOADING MACHINE.

Application mea nay 2s, 191s. seriall N'o.'2-37,`111.'

T o all whom t may concern:

citizen of the United Statesof America, re

, siding at Belle Vernon, inthe county of Fayette and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certainnew 'and useful ImprovementsA in Coal-Loading Machines, of which the vfoldamage tofsaid parts' and the gearing for lowing is a specification. A

This inventlon relates to certaln new'and useful improvements incoal ,loading machines, and more particularly in that class of loading machines adapted to transfer coal' from the mine floor to conveniently placed cars for transportation from the mme, an example of whlch isdisclosed in my pending application Serial Numbevr 132,17 5 filed No-l vember 18", 1916.

In the mining of coal, it is customary to undermine the face of a vein approximately to a depth equal to the thickness of the vein,l after which the material is blasted by, an

yexplosive charge. It is very desirable 'that thel amount of explosive used be the'verymethods thus far' tried out, for preparing the` coal for loading machines, it is customary to shootthe coal entirely loose from its natural bed down onto the floor ofthe mine, and,

besides requiring. a greatqu'antity of explosives and involving great risk of life,thisl method decreases the val-ue ofothe coal due to the "pulverizing effects 4of the excessivel use of explosives. In some cases, mechanical picks have beenused to break the coal down, but they also areundesirable in view of their bulky .nature and the fact thattheytoo produce a large amount of fine co'al and dust.

It i s therefore, an object of this-invention to provide a means whereby the coalmay be won in lumps of the most desirable size,

either from the semi-solid state i`n which it is 7left as the result of a conservative use of exploslves, or, in some cases, wlthout the ilse of explosives at all.

A -further object ofthe invention is to provide an improved means whereby the car to be loaded may' be moved relative to the discharge end ofthe loading conveyor so that such car may be uniformly loaded.

A still further object is to provide safety driving means for the conveyors, gathering device and other movable' parts vwhereby operating the samel is prevented.4

A still further Object of this invention is the provision of a coal loading machine in-v cluding a vertically movable Jforward conveyor and improved means for vertically moving said conveyor.

I have 'found in practice that the coal production may be increased from 3.0 to 50 per cent.l if a means is providedfor the storage ofv coal whereby the gathering thereof'may. continue while a loaded car is being replaced by an empty one, and it is a still further object of the present invention to provide a storage' bowl or hopper to receive from a for` Wardlconveyor the coal being vgathered andr from -which the coal is transferred'to a car bya rear conveyor, the rear conveyor being capable' of remaining inoperative whilethe forward conveyor continues Aoperation so that the gathering operation may be permitthe provision of a loading machine including a forward and a rear conveyor substantially between which issituated a storage ibowl or hopper, and means to 'horizontally swing independently'or unison the forwardjand rear conveyors.

` A still'further Object of theI vinvention lis the provision of a loading machine inc-lud'- ing a wheeled truck and improved means for steering the wheels'of the truck. f

`ted to. continue during the period in lwhich ya loaded car is beingreplaced by an empty A Sau further-Object'of che invention ia y to provide 'an improved driving means for jthe machine and an improved electrically op'-V erated brake therefor.

With these general objects-in View and,

many others that will becomevapparent as the nature of the invention is better understood,the same consists in the no vel con- Y struction, form` arrangement and combination of partsv hereinafter more fully described, shownin the drawings and claimed.

part of this application and in which like reference characters indicate similar parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of the forward portion of the machine, partly broken away, and Y y Figure 1a is a similar view of the rear portion of the machine, together with a car 1n .position to be loaded, the car being/shown in vertical longitudinal section, partly broken away; this figure and Figure 1 together show'substantially the complete machine in side elevation.

Figure 2 is a top plan View oli the forward portion ot the machine, the conveyor chalns, one ot the scraper bars, and parts mounted on the truck trame, being omitted, for sake of clearness, and

Figure 2a is a similar view of the rear portion of the machine, parts mountedron the truck frame being omitted, and the conarm.

7. Figure 7 is a like View of the finger' portion of the gathering arm, the point thereo.2 being removed.

Figure 8 is a to planyiew of the hub member shown in igure 6. v

wFigure 9f is a top plan view of the complete ngerportion of the gathering arm shown in rig. 7j

Figure 10 is a cross sectional view of the i gathering arm taken on line X-X of Fig. 9.

Figure 11 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through the forward conveyor taken approximately on line Xl-Xl of Fig.

1 to show the lever arrangement which is used to operate the clutches controllingthe operation of the gathering-arm carryingdisks, parts of the conveyor being omitted.

Figure 12 is a similar view taken approximately on the line Kil- XH of Fig. 1a to -show the shaft and hand wheels used to manually operate the car mover, parts of the machine being omitted.

Figure 13 is an enlarged detail view of a part of the rear conveyor frame and also showing partly in side elevation and partly diagrammatically the vcar pushing.. mechanism:

Figure 14 is an enlarged transverse secre 5 is a similar view of the shoe` Figure 15 is an enlarged view, partly in"A side elevation and ypartly broken away, of the intermediate portion of the machme, showing the hopper and associated parts 1n vertical longitudinal section.

Figure 16 is an enlarged plan view, partly broken away and partly in horizontal section, of the intermediate portion of the machine, parts being omitted fon-:sake of clear- Figure 17 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view through the hopper, taken approximately on line XVM-XVII of Fig. 1a, parts being/omitted.

Figure 18 is an enlarged view.. partly in horizontal/section and partly in plan, taken through the hopper approximately on line XVHl-XVHI of Fig. 15, parts being omitted.

Figure 19 is atop plan view of the truck frame of the machine and showing the location of the traction wheels in dotted lines.

Figure 20 is an enlarged top plan view of the forward portion of the truck and parts mounted thereon, the resistance box shown in Figure 1, the steering mechanism shown lin. Figure 22 and the brake mechanism also shown in Figure 22 being omitted.

Figure 21 is an enlarged cross sectional view showing the clamping members of the hopper locking mechanism, taken approximately on line XXI- XXI of Figure 20.

Figure22 isl an enlarged top plan view of the rear portion of the. truck and parts mounted thereon.

Figure 23 is an enlarged view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, of the rear portion ofthe truck.

Figure 24 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view of one of the traction wheel mountings, takenv on line XXlV-XXFV of Fig. 23.

Figure 25 is a plan view diagrammatically illustrating a portion of a mine and dierent working positions in which the machine mayoperate tol advantage, and

Figure 26 is a perspective view of the main motor supporting frame and a portion of the forward conveyor, and showing the operating mechanisms for pawls 133, and cam 124,. which are omitted from the other views for sake of clearness.

Referring more in detail to the several "views, the present machine broadly includes a gathering head A carried by the lower torward end of the forward conveyorB whose upper rear .end discharges into a substantially central storage bowl or hopper C from which coal is discharged by a rear or tail conveyor D extending 'from the bottom of the hopper C upwardly and rearwardly to a point above the car E to be loaded.- The conveyors B and D extend from opposite sides vof the hopper C and are supported from said hopper, the latter bein mounted as hereinafter ldescribed on a sing e wheeled truck F.

As shown more clearly in Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5, the lower ends of the side rails or I- beams of the conveyor B have suitable castings 6 secured thereto by transverse reinforcingrods or bolts 7 and the castings 6 have tubularv bearings 8 yat the free ends thereof in-which the transverse driven foot shaft 9 of the conveyor is journaled. The gathering-head shoe is-broadly composed of a base plate 10 of the formY more clearly shown in Figures 4 and 5 and an upper or face plate 11 connected to the plate 10 at the forward edges thereof by transverse rivets 12, the said-plates 10 and 11 being suitably maintained in spaced relation and rigidly reinforcedby spacing elements 13 and 14. The ends of the plate 11 are cut away as at 15 to form in conjunction' with the castings 16 substantially cylindrical -or circular walls at each side of the shoe A enclosing open spaces or depressions within which certain movable parts hereinafter described are 1ocated. Adjacent the castings 6 are-twopart journal boxes 17 suitably mounted andsecured on theplate 10 and in which the bearingx members 8 ofA the castings 6 are freely journaled, Rigidly secured to and mounted upon the base plate 10 centrally of the de pressions enclosed by the castings 16, and edges 15 are castings 18 bolted to the reinforcing member v14 as at19 and having upwardly extending stub shafts-20 to receive the hubs 21 of the disks 22, the latter being maintained on said stub shafts by headed retaining bolts 23 screwed into the threaded sockets 2 4 of thest'ub shafts l20. The disks 22 form substantially dust-proof closure lplates for; the open spaces or depressions in the shoe and are provided o-n their undersurfaces with eveled .gear teet 25. The ends of the co veyor foot shaft f9 extefd be- .yond the journal boxes 17 to points adjacent the stub shafts 20 and have beveled pinions 26 j ournaled thereon adjacent thebearings 8, .Saidl pinions 26 being` constantly in mesh with the teeth 25 on the under faces of the disks 22. The outer ends of the pinions 26 are. fashioned to provide parts of clutches i .'whic'h are engaged by slidingclutch members 27 keyed on the shaft 9. The clutch members 27 are actuated by forks 28 whose angular -ends 29 slidably rest upon the upper flatsurfaces vofthe blocks 30 formed inf tegral with the castings 18, and pivotally connectedjbetween the castings 16` and thel forks 28 are links 31. The free endsoffthe i 'shifting forks 28 are pivotallyonnected to bell-crank levels 32 which are in turn connnected to actuating rods 33 extending fear-f wardly'through the' ,castings 16 and up ofthe castings 16 (see Figure' 3.)

wardly at each side of the conveyor, see Fig- `ures 1 and 2to a point where they are "pivotally attached to lugs 34 of the operating handles 35 (see Figuresl and 11). A pair of brackets36 are' secured Ato the lower iianges of the' I-beams 5 and journaled in these brackets 36 is a tubular transverse shaft 37 having secured on each end thereof one of the handles 35. Extending through and freely journaled within the shaft 37 is a shaft 38 which projects beyond the ends of 'the'shaft 37 and also has a handle 35secured on each ofthe opposite ends thereof. The rod 33 at one side ofthe conveyor B is attached to the handle 35 at that side which is secured to the shaft 38, while the rod 33 at the other-'side of the conveyor B is attached to that handle 35 which is secured to the tubular shaft 37 and it will be .readily seen that by ythis arrangement either one or both of the clutch members 27. may be readily operated from either side of the machine. A

Extending upwardly from the disks 22 are stub shafts 39 which extend through the.

apertures 40 of the hub members 41 of the gathering arms. The hub members 41 are -suitably retained on the-stub 'shafts 39, so

freely journaled in the apertured ears 45 hub members 41' are provided with suitable knuckles 46 which interit with thel knuckles 47 of the gathering arm finger members 48,'transverse pivot pins 49 being extended through thel knuckles 46 and 47 to pivotally connect the members 41 and' 48 and permit' .vertical movementy of the The latter members. Suitable stop lugs 50 are formed on the knuckles-47 to limit the upward movement of the-members 48 and the lower portions of the knuckles 46 and 47 are squared as at 5l and 52 to-limitthe downward movement ofVT ,the members 48. The finger`members 48 are provided with aI plurality 'of transversebores or sockets 53 to frictionally receive the Shanks 54 of'suitable cutter teeth .55 and the members 48 are further provided with renewable or detachable points 56.

When shaft' 9 is. rotated, the clutch members 27 v are actuated to connect ypinions 26 to said f shaft 9 to thereby cause rotation of di'sks 22 and vimpart movement to the gathering arms. The paths described by the tips of the gathering arm lfingers are substantially reniform and' extend' almost entirely'beyond the front edge of the shoe A, it being noted that the initial movement imparted to the finger members 48 is lonl gitudinally to penetrate a pile of material. The Tfinger members then move laterally and rearwardly to `r ke the material onto the 2. The fingers of the gathering arms are.

quite similar in form and construction to that of ordinary hand fingers are moved 1n a manner similar to that in which handpick blades are moved by miners inthe act of winning coal with hand picks. rrlhe gathering mechanism thus serves to dislodge or pick the coal loose by undermining, picking and conveying actions in addition to gathering the coal onto the conveyor. j

\ rlhe castings a16 have rearwardly projecting split sockets 57 in which are secured the rearwardly directed handles 58 which are utilized .to manually vertically rock the shoe A about the bearings 8 of .the castings 6. rllhis construction provides means to assist in moving the shoe overirregularities of the mine floor even though said shoe is in engagement therewith.

The conveyor B is of the well known chain and Scraper type employing endless chains, one of which is shown at 59 in FigureJ 15, which pass around the sprocket wheels 60 secured on the fdot shaft 9 and the sprocket wheels v61 secured on the head shaft 62', transverse spaced scraper bars 63 having their ends suitably rigidly connected to said chains. The spaced inner flanges of the side rails or l-beams 5 form guideways for the conveyor chains and the scraper bars 63 move rearwardly above the partition 64l and forwardly or in their return movement below said partition. As shown more clearly in Figures 2 and -2a and 15 and 16, the headshaft-62 is mounted in adjustable lubricated roller bearings 65, and secured upon one end`of said shaft 62 is a sprocket wheel 66 which is geared to the main driving motor 67 as will hereinafter be made apparent.

The storage bowl or hopper C includes a lower portion 68 of tapered form, as shown in Figure 17l and having rearwardly directed spaced sides one of which is shown in Figure 1a at 69. 1n plan. .this member or portion I68 of the hopper has the general form of a U andnsuperimposed upon the upper edge thereof is a channel member 70 of simillar form. Mounted upon the upper edge of the, member 70 s a ring member 71 having three spaced flanges providing a trackway 72 and a drum 73. 1t is to be noted that the height of the hopper C may be lessened by pick blades and said Leashes removing thel member 70 and placing the member 71 directly on the upper edge ofthe member 68, this being sometimes necessary when the ceiling of the mine is unusually low. A substantially rectangular frame 74 is disposed horizontally slightly above the ring member 71 and has a pair of spaced transverse brackets or castings 75 rigid therewith which carry a plurality ofv spaced `rollers 76 projecting inwardly and bearing against the flanges forming the trackway 72 of the ring member 71. The forwa-rdone of the castings 75 has a transverse pin 77 extending through a vertically elongated slot 78 in the casting v7 9 rigidly secured to the conveyor B and extending downwardly therefrom. rlhe foregoing construction provides a means whereby the con-- be raised and the frame 74 veyor B may and parts carried thereby including the conveyor B may be horizontally rotated to thereby swing the gathering head A to either side of the working place.

The main motor 6\7 is rigidly mounted on the rear one of the castings 75 carried by the frame 74 and has a double sprocket wheel 80 of relatively small diameter secured on the armature shaft thereof, said sprocket wheel 80 being geared to the double sprocket Wheel 81 by a double sprocket chain 82 (see Figure 15). Suitably secured agalnst the inner faces of the side rails ofthe frame 74 are alined bearing members 83 which revolubly support the ends of a transverse `the shaft 84 is a safety slip clutch including a casing 86 within ywhich .are a number of disks 87, alternate ones of which are respectively keyed to the tubular shaft 85 and to the casing 86. An adjusting sleeve 88 is screwed upon the end of `the hub 89 of the casing 86, the latter being also surrounded bya ring 90 between whlch and the sleeve 88 is positioned a helical compression spring 91. Rigid'with and projecting from the ring 90 into the casing 8,6 are rods 92 which bear. against the 'end one of the disks 87 so as to-normally maintain the latter in frictional engagement with each other through the action of the spring 91 Whose Strength may be varied by yadjustment of the sleeve, 88 'to more or less tightly pack the disks 87. 1t will thus be seen that power is transmitted from the shaft of the motor 67 to gear 81 and sleeve 85 through the slip olutch86, 

